Motion picture apparatus



May 1 1933- E. w. REYNOLDS- IQTI ON PICTURE APPARATUS Filed April 17,1931 INVENTOR 5 2120000 14/. Reynolds.

A'TTORNEY WITNESSES:

Patented Ma 16,1933

} UNITED s A'rEs mmwoon w. narrows, or nmsxn'r. HILL, PENNSYLVANIA,assmnoa 'ro wnsrrka-f PATIENT OFFICE HOUSE ELEL'IBIC & MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, A CORPORATION 01 'VAN'IA MOTION PICTURE APPARATUS v Applicationfled April 17, 193;. Serial no. 580,778.

My .invention relates to web-handling apparatus and has particularrelation to apparatus for regulating the speed of a web as it isadvanced.

5 The present application is a continuation in part, of my co-pendingapplication, Serial No. 436,552, filed March 17, 1930, and assigned toWestinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. Certain of the featuresshown but not claimed in the present application are shown and claimedin my copending application, Serial No. 650,375, filed January6, 1933and in the following a plications: Serial No. 406,847, filed November13, 1928 to Clinton R. Hanna and Emil H. Greibach; Serial No. 461,274,filed June 16, 1930 to William Laudenbach and Francis Herdon; Serial No.524,879, filed March 24, 1931 to Clinton R. Hanna; Serial No. 640,262,filed October 29, 1932 to Clinton B. Hanna and Eniil H. Greibach; SerialNo. 663,377, filed March 29, 1933 to Clinton R. Hanna. 1

Apparatus for regulating the speed of a web, as it is advanced through aweb-handling machine, such as a motion-picture machine, ordinarilycomprises a low-pass mechanical filter which includes a resilientlymounted sprocket for advancing the web and an inertia roller rotated bythe advancing web. These mechanical filters are particularly applicablein photo-acoustic a paratus wherein it is highly desirable that a lmstrip be advanced at a: substantiallyuniform sp'ee' In working withphoto-acoustic apparatus, I have found that the filtering systems.constructed according to the teachings of the prior art, which comprise,as has been pointed out, a single resiliently mounted sprocket and asingle flywheel, ordinarily occasion I considerable difliculty. The.flywheel should be of comparatively large inertia and, as a result,considerable tension is required in the film to rotate it uniformly. Theexpense involved in the provision of substantially frictionless bearingsfor the inertia roller is an item of no small importance. Moreover, inview of the fact that the. ordinary film strip is not a highlyxelasticmedium, it is deleteriously affected by tensional forces of ordinary"magnitude. These features, when combined,

vention is to provi render the problem of providing for the applicationof the necessary torque to the rotation of the inertial mass in thefiltering system, a comparatively difiicult one.

Certain attemptshave also been made to bring the film strip into moreintimate engagement with the surface of the inertial roller by providinga plurality of pressure rollers that engage the film and hold it in firmcontact with the inertia roller. However, I have found that the pressurerollers, by the irregularity of their reaction of the film, introduce adls'tortion in the sound that 'is produced from a film strip passingthrough a machine of such structure.

It is, accordingly, an object of my invention to provide a mechanicalfilterfor a web-- handling system wherein the re uisite inertia massshall be rotated with facility.

Another object of my invention is to provide a mechanical filter forweb-handling apparatus wherein the inertia mass shall be ro-- tatgd withcomparatively small tension in the we Still another object of myinvention is to provide apparatus of the type wherein a large mass to berotated shall be effectively coupled to a web without the aid ofadditional.

pad rollers or prohibitive tension.

A further object of my invention is to rovide a mechanical filter for aweb-ban g system wherein a web is held in engagement with theinertialmass .by the tension forces in the web. v A still further object of myinvention is to provide a mechanical filter for a web-handling systemwherein pad rollers are not requiredto hold the web in engagement withthe inertial mass.

'An incidental object of my invention is to provide a shoeless gate forfilm-handling apparatus.

A further incidental object of my invention is to provide web-handlingapparatus wherein the web web-handling mechanisms on one of its surfacesonly. r

A still further incidental object of my inde photo-acoustic a params ofa type wherein the adshall be engaged by a plurality of 1 vanced in suchmanner as not to be mechanically marred on the surface on which theacoustic waves are recorded.

More specifically stated, it is an object of my invention to provideweb-handling apparatus of the type wherein a web shall be advancedsmoothly and uniformly without being excessively tensioned or broken.

,According to my invention, I web-filtering system wherein the or inaryinertial mass utilized is broken up into indi-- vidualjparts instead ofbeing contained in a single unit. That is to say, in apparatusconstructed according to the teachings of my invention, a plurality ofinertia rollers are }utilized instead of a single web-driven inertiaroller, and the sum of the inertias of these rollers is made equivalentto the necessary inertia of the sing e web-driving roller of the priorart.

The effective angle of contact between the web and the roller is thusincreased considerably and may, in fact, attain a value greater than360. The increase in the angle of contact results in an increase in theeffective coupling between the mass and the web and, consequently, in anincrease in the longitudinal force that must be applied to the webbefore it will slip relative to the rollers.

In view of the fact that, in a plural-roller system, the inertia of eachindividual roller is considerably smaller than the inertia of the singleroller of the apparatus of the prior art, considerable less tension inthe web is required to initiate the rotation of the rollers embodied inmy improved system. More,

I is smaller than the weight of the single roller,

over, since the weight of the individual rollers less tension isrequired in the web to overcome bearing friction and to maintain the .etwheels. The sprocket wheels perform the combined functions of providingfor the tensioning ofthe web and of preventing the irregularities of themechanical elements of the machine and of the web from being introducedinto the portion of the web that is required to move uniformly.

In the specific embodiment of my invention, I have provided a surface tosupport a web, on each side of which a resiliently mounted sprocketwheel is disposed. One of the sprocket wheels is disposed below thesurface and, when driven through the resilient coupling,it advances theweb.

The second sprocket wheel is disposed above the web-supporting surfaceand is rotated by the web. It is resiliently coupled to a damping deviceand, by reason of the damping, exerts a tension on the web. An

rovide a inertial roller is associated with each sprocket.

It is to be noted that,in view of the fact that the sprocket wheels areresiliently supported, the variations between the sprocket wheel pitchand the sprocket-hole'pitch of the web is taken up in the coil ling andis not transmitted to the web. urthermore, by reason of the fact thatthe web-rotated sprocket wheel is resiliently mounted, theirregularities that ma be present in the damping device are eliminatedand do not appear in the motion of the web.

In one embodiment of my invention, the web-supporting surface is anordinary skid that is stationary relative to the web. In a secondembodiment of my invention, the

the specific embodiments of my invention that will be described herein.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention areset forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, to-

.gether with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best beunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is aschematic view, in front elevation, showin the essential elements of anembodiment o my invention;

Fig. 2 is a view, in section, taken along the line II-II of Fig. 1 andshowing the mounting of the sprocket wheels utilized in my invention;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view, certain parts being broken away, showing aresiliently mounted sprocket wheel utilized in the practice of myinvention, and

Fig. 4 is a schematic view, in-front elevation, showing a modifiedembodiment of my invention.

The apparatus shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 comprises a plurality ofweb-engaging sprocket wheels 1, 3 and 4 to advance a web 5 over a skid7. In view of the fact that my invention has been, in general, appliedto photo-acoustic apparatus, it is shown in the present embodiment of myinvention as applied in this field. Specifically, the web 5 is,therefore, a photo-acoustic film.

A section of the telescope 9 of a soundreproducing optical system isdisposed adjacent to the film 5, and a photo-tube 11, respom sive to thevariations in the light transmitted through the film 5, is disposedbehind the film. The skid 7 is equipped with an aperture 13, throughwhich the light from. the

web supporting surface is a drum rotated optical system is transmittedto the cell 11 and is commonly known as an aperture plate. Fig. 2 may beregarded as an enlarged transverse section, taken along the line II-IIof Fig. 1, with all the elements but the sprocket wheels 1 and 3 omittedfor purposes sprocket wheel on the shaft is permitted.

To prevent the free oscillation of the sprocket wheel 3, a dampingwasher 25 of suitable material, such as felt, is provided to becompressed between the sprocket wheeland a collar 27, rigidly secured tothe shaft, by a spring 29 that engages the bearing 31, in which the-shaft rotates, and one face 33 of the sprocket wheel.

The upper sprocket wheel 1 is rotatably supported on a sleeve 35 thatis, in turn, rotatably mounted on astud '37 secured in the main base 39of the system. The sleeve 35 is resiliently coupled to the sprocketwheel 1 by a spring 40. in a manner similar to that in which the drivenshaft 15 is coupled to its corresponding sprocket wheel 3 by the spring19. The sleeve 35 is mechanically damped by a washer 41, of suitablematerial, that is compressed between the sleeve and a collar 43 andresiliently urged toward the sleeveby a fiat spring 15 that. in turn,engages a second collar 47 rigidly secured to the stud 37. The collar 43that is in engagement with the damper washer 41 is rotatably mounted onthe stud 37 and is equipped with a pin 49 which engages the threads 51of the stud.

The sprocket wheel 4 is, ordinarily, a holdback sprocket wheel, disposedbetween the take-up reel (not shown) and the pulling sprocket wheel 3and is rigidly secured on a driven shaft 53.

A plurality of rollers 55 and 57, to be filmdriven, are associated withthe sprocket wheels 1 and 3. The film between the sprocket wheels 1 and3 is maintained in tension by reason of the fact that the motion of theupper sprocket wheel 1 is damped and offers a resistance to the forceexerted by the driven sprocket wheel. By reason of its tensionedcondition, the film 5 is held in intimate engagement with the rollers 55and 57.

It is to be noted that the damping device would have a tendency tointroduce distortions in the velocity of the film, if the resilientcoupling 40 were not included between the damping means and the sprocketwheel 1. By reason of the fact that the film is tensioned, shoe platesare not necessary on the filnrsupporting surface, and one of the inostdiflicult problems that has arisen in connection with photo-acousticapparatus is substantially solved.

In Fig. 4, apparatus of a type comprising elements similar to those ofFig. 1 are shown. In this case, however, the film is supported on a drum59. In photo-acoustic apparatus of this type, the sound is ordinarilytaken off by allowing the section of the film 5, wherein the sound trackis impressed, to project over the edge of the drum 59 and, by suitablydisposing the optical telescope 9 and the phototube 11 relative to thefilm. In the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 4, the photo-tube 11 is shownas disposed within thedrum.

In view of the fact that a substantial angle of contact between the drum59 and the wcb 5 is necessary for proper operation, a plurality ofweb-deflectingfrollers 61 are pro vided between the drum and theinertial rollers 55 and 57.

In the description given hereinbei'ore, my invention has been shown asembodied in a specific system. and has been, as a matter of fact,essentially illustrated schematically. In ordinary welrhandlingapparatus and particularly in film-handling apparatus, certainrefinements are introduced. It is understood that machines incorporatingthese refinemcnts lie within the scope of my invention if they alsoincorporate the essential features of my invention. as described herein.

Moreover, it will be noted that certain modifications of the apparatusdescribed herein are possible. It is apparent that my invention may bepracticed in a system wherein both of the resilient sprocket wheels aredriven. As a matter of fact, I have experimented with apparatus of thistype and have found it to operate satisfactoril Another modification ofmy invention that is apparent is one wherein the lower sprocket wheel 3is driven at normal speed, while the upper sprocket wheel 1 has aperipheral speed greater, by a slight amount, than the peripheral speedof the lower sprocket wheel. In apparatus of this type. the sprocketwheel 1 is ordinarily rigidl secured to its shaft. In a still furthermodification of my invention, the lower sprocket wheel may be rotated ata greater speed thanthe upper sprocket 59, between theweb-tensioningsystems, may be entirely omitted, and the sound may be, inthis case, taken-off as the film moves between an optical system and aphoto-tube suitably disposed. For this modification of my invention, anoptical system=having a small angular aperture is desirable.

Although I have shown and described certain specific embodiments of myinvention, I am fully aware that many other modifications thereof arepossible. My invention, therefore, is not to be restricted, exceptinsofar as is necessitated by the prior art and by the spirit of theappended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. Web-advancing apparatus comprising resiliently mounted dentate meansto engage a web, inertial means disposed adjacent to said dentate means,additional resilientl mounted dentate means to engage said we inertialmeans associated with said last named dentate means, and means disposedbetween said groups 'of inertial means and dentate means for supportingsaid web.

2. \Veb-advancing apparatus comprising dentate means to engage a web,inertial means disposed adjacent to saiddentate means, additionaldentate means to engage said web, inertial means associated with saidlast named dentate means, and means disposed between saidgroups-ofinertia means and dentate means for'supporting said web.

3. Web-advancing apparatus comprising resiliently mounted dentate meansto advance a web, inertial means disposed adjacent to said dentate meansto be rotated by said web, additional resiliently mounted dentate meansto engage said web and inertial means associated with said last-nameddentate means to engage said web.

4. Web-advancing apparatus comprisingv resiliently-mounted dentate meansto advance a web, inertial means disposed adjacent to said dentate meansto be rotated by said web, additional resiliently-mounted dentate meansto be rotated by said web and inertial means associated withsaidlast-named dentate means to engage said web.

5. Web-tensioning apparatus comprising a shaft to be power-driven, adentate roller resiliently coupled to said shaft, a'dentate roller to befilm driven, and damping means associated with said first-named dentateroller.

6. Web-tensioning apparatus comprising a dentate roller to bepower-driven, a dentate roller to be web-driven, damping meansassociated with said last-named dentate roller and a resilient couplingbetween said lastnamed dentate roller and said damp'ing means. I V

7. Web-tensioning ,apparatus comprising a dentate roller to bepower-driven, a stud disposed adjacent to said dentate roller, a

a denfi'ate'roller to be web-driven and resiliently 0011 led to saidsleeve.

8. eb-tensioning means including a plurality of dentate-rollers, certainof said rollers being resiliently mounted, and at least one of saidresiliently-mounted rollers being adapted to be web-driven.

9. Web-tensioning apparatus comprising a shaft to be power-driven,dentate means resiliently coupled to said shaft to engage a web, a studspaced from said shaft, a sleeve rotatably supported on said stud,dentate means resiliently coupled to said sleeve to engage said web,damping means associated with said sleeve, and a surface disposedbetween said stud and said shaft to support said web.

10. In film handling apparatus means for impressing a record on a filmstrip or for translating a record impressed on a film strip, means forsupporting said film strip in the region of said impressing means orsaid translating means, means for advancing said film strip over saidfilm-supporting means, means, including a resilient element, tocooperate with said advancing means and with said film strip to maintainsaid film strip in tensioned condition, and means including a. pluralityof rollers to be film driven, said rollers having considerable inertia,to cooperate with said resilient element and said advancing means tomaintain said film in uniform motion as it passes over said supportingmeans.

11. Web-tensioning apparatus comprising means for advancing a web, adentate roller to be driven by said web as it is advanced, damping meansto cooperate with said webdriven roller to resist the torgue applied bysaid web and resilient couphng means mechanically interposed betweensaid dentate roller and said damping means to partially take up theforce impressed on said web by the coaction of said web, said advancingmeans and said damping means and thereby to suppress irregularitiesintroduced into said web by the coaction of said damping means andsaid-dentate means.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 3 day ofApril 1931.

ELLWOOD W. REYNOLDS.

sleeve rotatably supported on said stud, and p

